Historic $335M Lincoln Center Overhaul Begins

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is getting a major $335 million renovation, and, on Monday, the project officially began construction.

The project will add a 2,000-seat outdoor performance venue, a park with an interactive water feature, and remove an obstructive wall along Amsterdam Avenue, among other changes, Lincoln Center officials said.

The renovation aims to make the iconic campus, which already houses 11 venues spanning music, dance, opera, film, and theater, more accessible and welcoming, Lincoln Center's leaders said.

"The west side of Lincoln Center's campus has, for too long, sent a message of exclusion—but today, we are proud to break ground on a project that will change that," Mariko Silver, president and CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, said. "No matter where you enter the campus, you will be greeted with the sense of open welcome and possibility that arts and culture should offer for all."

The renovation will primarily take place on the west side of the campus, along Amsterdam Avenue and at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center officials said.

The Lincoln Center's Amsterdam Avenue wall will be removed and replaced with greenery and more welcoming plaza-like transition spaces from the street into Lincoln Center’s campus for pedestrians and concert-goers alike.

These spaces include street-level gardens with spaces to sit and relax, as well as expanded sidewalks between 62nd and 65th Streets, Lincoln Center officials said.

Lincoln Center said construction would finish by spring 2028.

"The construction around us today is temporary. The invitation to join us here on this incredible campus is permanent," Silver said.

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